How to Apply to Venture Atlanta May 2019

Fill out web form about your company: Ask Fill out web form about your company: bip-capital.com/corporate-submissions Follow Us on Twitter and LinkedIn: @BIPCapital @cresferrell Tag us on Twitter to share lessons, advice, and tips you learn throughout the session in real time Prepping for Venture Atlanta

May 15th – applications open Dates to Remember May 15th – applications open August 2nd – Applications close for Presenting and showcase Companies Showcase companies are allowed to setup a booth in the main lobby August 8th – companies notified if selected for Pitch off 30 companies selected for pitch August 14th – Pitch off in front of Judges October 16-17 – Venture Atlanta Prepping for Venture Atlanta

Convey the essence and energy Sell, not describe Objectives Grab – 3 C’s Clear, Concise and Compelling Short amount of time to grab the attention Convey the essence and energy You have identified a problem and have best solution Sell, not describe This is first impression; only get one chance to make a good one Don’t explain the entire business plan This is a First Date No VC will invest on the spot or first meeting, if they do you don’t want them Want to get them to take a follow-up meeting; only get one time to make a 1st impression Help them develop an investment thesis Objective = to be selected as one of the companies for VA. In general this advice works for both exec. Summaries and investor pitches. 24 people that will read each one of the 200 applicants and 30 or so get selected Each will spend >10 minutes to decide your fate Must spend as much time making it compelling; don’t just cut and paste from past material Prepping for Venture Atlanta

DO DON’T Do’s | Don’ts Be respectful of time, keep summary concise Allow for questions Describe by analogies Address issues that are problematic to your company or funding head-on Study examples on the web Google “VC Executive Summary” Go beyond 1 page on executive summary Don’t deviate from format Describe other market you can attack STAY FOCUSED! Suggest valuation Acronyms Superfluous Words E.g., Dynamic, Next Generation, Innovative Latch onto Buzzwords E.g., Machine Learning, Big Data, AI Don’t have to explain every detail; present on a peer level, this is quick list from seeing a lot of pitches. Are there any you can think of I left off? -search 1.0 Alta Vista; search 2.0 Google Prepping for Venture Atlanta

Tips | Secrets If $0 revenue right now, product and story must be compelling Momentum and traction are important Describe how you are going to make money, more importantly profit Prepping for Venture Atlanta

Executive Summary Template This is your 1st impression! FILL OUT EVERY SECTION OF THE TEMPLATE; DON’T LEAVE ANY BLANK HAVE MULTIPLE PEOPLE PROOF YOUR SUMMARY Be Realistic! Prepping for Venture Atlanta

MARKET SIZE EXAMPLE Tells the whole US market and give a % on the area the product is solving. Then brings the market right to home. Show your references. Don’t do China math…. Prepping for Venture Atlanta

Product Sentiment (NPS) Product Tours & In-app Message COMPETITION EXAMPLE Product Usage Product Sentiment (NPS) Customer Health CS Playbook Product Tours & In-app Message COMPANY A COMPANY B COMPANY C COMPANY D COMPANY E COMPANY F Very high Medium Low Very low High ”NO COMPETITORS” is not acceptable “We are the best” brings questions Prepping for Venture Atlanta

BUSINESS MODEL - EXERCISE Large market share is not a guarantee for profits GM vs. Tesla Unites Airlines vs. Southwest Kodak vs. Innovation 22 Profit Models “The Profit Zone” by Adrian Slvwotzky The odds you have come up with a new profit model is very low Explain your Business Model This tells us how you will make $$ Prepping for Venture Atlanta

Questions Prepping for Venture Atlanta